Interview with Jon Hart of Liberty
Heading into the NCAA Championships, Liberty University senior Jon Hart (pictured right) has the seventh best mark in the nation at 67.76m. A native of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Hart has steadily improved throughout his collegiate career, and has now qualified for his second straight NCAA Championship. Collegehammer.com corrospondent and Pennsylvania native Dane Miller had a chance to ask him a few questions last week as he was preparing for regionals. If you're interested in reading more about Jon, check out his blog here (and an interesting post on this past weekend's NCAA Regionals).
 1) This year's NCAA championships look to be very competitive with a ton of throwers in the mix. What do you think will give people an edge during the postseason?
Yea, it should be fun to see how it plays out. As far as an edge goes ... hopefully flying all the way out to Drake for the Drake relays will prove to have been the right move. I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to become familiar with their facilities. I guess the only other thing I can do is revolve my training around peaking there.
2) In the past, Liberty University traditionally hasn't been considered a throwing powerhouse. However this year both you and Clendon Henderson are near the top of the national rankings in your events. What led you to Liberty? What has helped turn Liberty into a great throws school?
The main reason that I came to Liberty was for what our school and team represents. It has been awesome to be on a team where our main goal isn't to bring glory to ourselves or to our school, but rather to God through the amazing blessings and talents that he has given us. There are other Division I "religious" schools, but as far as I know none that prioritize faith over track and field.
That being said, I feel like there are a few things that have really contributed to the improvement of our entire program and specifically the throwing program. First, there is a lot of talent and hard workers on the team. Working hard seems to be very contagious. When I see Josh McDougal running until he pukes almost every day it makes me want to work harder in the weight room ... haha, but not until I puke. Secondly, as far as the throws go, Clendon [Henderson] and I spend a ton of time with Coach Lance Bingham watching film. We tape almost everything we do and then we all study the tape together to help each other out. When we all sit around watching video and discussing our technique it seems to be very productive. Also, our recruiting of throwers has really taken off since Clendon and I have actually gotten some exposure. We are bringing in an awesome class of freshman next year, so plan on seeing Liberty throwers back on the national stage in another year or two. I think our throwing program just needed a little bit of a jump start.
3) How were you introduced to the hammer? When did you begin to realize that your future was in the event?
I had seen the hammer once or twice at the Penn Relays when I was in high school, but I never had the opportunity to throw it. I remember my high school coach, Ty Smith, and I thinking that I would be good at it since I'm pretty explosive and I had a great back strength. I started learning it as soon as I got to Liberty and within a few months it was pretty obvious that it would be my best event. I only went 172 feet as a freshman, but I pretty much had no idea what I was doing. Haha, I also got owned by Cory Martin, Nick Owens, and Nate Rolfe at junior nationals that year. My form has never really been as good as my competitors, but I have been able to keep up with them. So think I still have quite a bit of potential.
4) Any goals for this season? Do you plan on continuing to throw next year?
My number one goal all year has been to get All American. If I don't get that, I will definitely be disappointed with this season. My secondary goals are to score some team points at nationals with the hopes of getting top 6. I also really want to get into the Olympic Trials.
I'm definitely going to take a break from track this fall, but I'm thinking about getting back into it next spring. It has crossed my mind to jump on the bandwagon and train in Canada next year [with Coach Anatoli Bondarchuk], but I can't be sure until later this year. I also really want to learn a four turn throw. I do three turns right now and I hit a powerful position, but it's not very efficient. I think I need to take a step back in order to take a few steps forward ... but that can wait until after this season.
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10:41, 6 June 2008
.. Posted by Anonymous
Who the hell is Dane Miller????
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